brooklyn1 wrote:
> "Dave Garland" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Lou wrote:
>>
>>> The point is that air drying the
>>> dishes isn't necessarily cost free either. Neither is using a towel to
>>> dry
>>> them - the water is absorbed by the towel, which becomes damp. You hang
>>> the
>>> towel up when you're done, and that water evaporates.
>> True.
>>
>> And again, it takes a
>>> certain amount of heat to evaporate a given quantity of water, and if
>>> it's
>>> during the heating season, that heat is coming from the furnace. If you
>>> live in a climate where you don't need to run the furnace, then that's
>>> not a
>>> consideration. I don't know how much water has to be evaporated to dry a
>>> load of dishes, but it doesn't look like it would be much, and the amount
>>> of
>>> electricity used is correspondingly small - I doubt if anyone would
>>> notice a
>>> change in their electricity bill one way or the other.
>> But that's assuming that all the energy used goes into evaporating
>> water. In the case of air drying that's true. In the case of heated
>> drying, it's hard to believe. The heat leaks into the environment
>> (not a total loss, of course, as the furnace runs less, but not a wash
>> either, since resistance heating is usually much more costly than the
>> furnace's heat). I don't have any figures for the percentage of total
>> heat used that evaporates water, but would guess it's a small
>> percentage. The rest goes into making the dishwasher warm, leaving
>> the plates warm.
>>
>> (It's all theoretical to me, I've never had a dishwasher.)
>>
>> Dave
>
> Ahahahahaha. . . .
>
> Folks, it's a dishwasher... a marvel of modern *convenience*, something no
> one actually *needs*, but a major part of the convenience is the dry
> feature... if you open the unit right after it shuts off the dishes will be
> so hot that they will fully air dry in minutes... but if opened hours after
> it's fully cooled down (like in the morning) condensation will have formed
> inside the machine. I typically start my dishwasher last thing before
> retiring for the night, then I set the heated dry feature because I hate
> opening the dishwasher and finding many of the dishes covered with
> droplets.... the heated dry doesn't need to be used all the time, that's why
> there is a button that gives you a choice to exercise your brain. Never
> using the dry feature is like folks who install central AC but never use it
> unless it's like 100 degrees (and then they set it at 90), like buying a
> Porsche but being ascared to drive over 45 mph, like installing a fancy
> schmancy hydro jet tub but never using it other than something to dust and
> show off because it uses too much hot water, like buying nice living room
> furniture covered with silk brocade but covering it with clear plastic slip
> covers in hopes it won't ever wear, like roping off the living room so no
> one walks on your horrid dago robin's egg blue plush carpeting. The heated
> dry feature on a dishwasher uses so little energy compared to the total
> energy it consumes that it's negligible... I bet yoose types are so cheap
> yoose haven't bought a new toothbrush in like twenty years... yoose are all
> just a buncha mental masturbators over silly minutia.
>
> In fact I just got off the phone with the Maytag help desk, they varified
> that choosing the heated dry feature only slightly extends the heated dry
> that comes on anyway as part of the standard clean cycle... that the energy
> cost savings by not choosing the heated dry feature is miniscule and
> insignificant compared with the total energy consumed in using a dishwasher
> (naturally they couldn't give me an actual dollar amount as electric rates
> differ).


Sounds more like a story. Why would they build in a "do nothing button"?

We have a contemporary Maytag dishwasher and I though I would check. I
was up really early this morning. I don't have a wiring diagram for it
but I could observe current draw with a clamp on ammeter. I put the
meter on the dishwater circuit. I knew I had the correct circuit because
I could see the current change in sync with the sound of the motor
cycling. When the washing portion was complete (last rinse water is
pumped out) there was no longer a measurable draw because I had disabled
drying. When I enabled it I could see a current draw appropriate for a
heating element. I disabled it and the current draw stopped. I then set
the meter to record peak draw and walked away just to catch if the
element turned on and it never did. The dishes dried just fine as usual
with the door closed because of the residual heat.


Think about it, how many times a week does someone use their
> dishwasher... tops I use mine twice, that's 100 times a year... by not using
> the heated dry feature I'd save like 10¢, that's a whole $10/yr... and I'd
> lose the convenience of not having to wait with the door open for the dishes
> to fully dry or having to wipe... I don't know about the slobs but I don't
> like to stack my dishes in the cabinet with water droplets... then moisture
> gets trapped between stacked dishes, very unsanitary... wiping by hand is
> also unsanitary, negates the main purpose of an Auto dishwasher, minimally
> handled dishes. And dishwashers do indeed contain a blower, that's what
> circulates the heated air at the end in order to dry the dishes, choosing
> the heated dry feature merely lets the blower circulate the heated air a few
> minutes longer. If I listen carefully I can hear the blower running
> (because nothing else is running at the end) and I can see the vapor blowing
> out the front vent, it's a very small blower and a very small heater, but it
> works in that very small space. There is also a water heater, that uses
> much more energy than the dry heater. There is a definite savings in energy
> and the dishwasher will operate better if the water at the kitchen sink is
> run till it runs hot before turning on the dishwasher... my Maytag manual
> explains that and even says to test the water at the sink by runing it into
> cup and checking with a thermometer, optimally it should read 140ºF, or the
> dishwasher's water heater will have to make up the difference and that
> heater will cost a lot more to run than the drying heater, it's also cheaper
> to let your domestic hot water heater do the work... initially running with
> water not hot enough will negatively affect the performance of the
> dishwashing compounds... everyone's plumbing is different but typically a
> gallon of cold water comes out the hot water tap before it turns hot...
> filling the dishwasher with cold water wastes more energy than the heated
> dry feature uses. I just read my owner's manual again, a lot of good stuff
> in there I missed/forgotten since I read it 5 years ago, the machine has
> features I didn't know about.
>
> Not using your modern dishwasher's heated dry feature saves less energy than
> not using your modern frost free refrigerator freezer to make ice, and makes
> as much sense... just don't fill the ice cube trays, you'll save enough to
> take an around the world cruise... maybe in about forty life times. I
> wonder how many of yoose imbeciles believe you have to change the air in
> your car tires every 6,000 miles.
>
>
>